The Bayer Update: Kaitlyn Grace

This little one FINALLY decided she was ready to meet the world. And we are so thrilled! She came into the world the morning of July 17, at 7:17 am (the nurse declared it was 7:16, but we were all looking at the clock and it was after 7:20 when she said that, and therefore decided that she was wrong and it really was 7:17 when she made her final exit). She was 10 days late, but worth every second of waiting.

The important stats:

weight -- 8 lbs, 8 oz

height -- 22 inches

overall appearance -- perfect

(actually, she was really blue when she first came out because she had the cord partially wrapped around her neck, but the doctor and nurses weren't worried so neither were we, and she "pinked right up" quickly and scored an 8 and 9 on the Apgar. All was well)

over 4 cm dilated and still standing! A much better experience than the first go around

And here's how it all went down....

After waiting 9 days and no real signs of labor, I went to the doctor on Monday for a 41 week checkup. He told me I was 3 cm dilated (a big improvement from the week before, when I was not dilated at all), but they would schedule me to be induced the next morning anyway. Good. Great. Let's get this party started I thought to myself.

Well, later that afternoon I started to feel consistent contractions. And around dinner time we started timing them. We put Ry to bed, I kept on contracting, and we called my mom and Auntie Dana to have them come up just in case (mom wanted to be in the delivery room with us, Dana was kind enough to stay home with Ryan). Well, by 9:45 we were heading to the hospital where I was certain they'd tell me to go home and wait like last time. But no...things were progressing and we were admitted. No induction needed!! I was able to walk around for the beginning of the labor, which was much better than having pitocin to help induce labor with Ryan. By about 2 am I got an epidural, which gave me (and Eddy) a good 3 hours of rest in the middle of the night. And around 6 am, the nurse told me I was 10 cm dilated and ready to go. We waited a bit longer, the doctor came in, I started pushing and after about 15 minutes out she came! This 2nd time around stuff is for real....so much faster!

13 hours of labor, compared to 36 hours with Ryan.

15 minutes of pushing, compared to 2 1/2 hours with Ryan.

I can see why people do this again. Not that I will be doing anything of the sort.

perfect

like father, like daughter

quietly taking it all in

moving on to the postpartum room

As for her name, Kaitlyn was a name we all liked, and Ryan especially took a liking to it. In fact, every other name we threw out there, Ryan said "No, I like Kaitlyn". One definite little man. And her middle name Grace was one that Ryan came up with all on his own. We don't really know anyone named Grace, he doesn't have any books with little girls named Grace in them, I have no idea where he came up with it. But we liked it, and he kept saying it, and it stuck. So there you have it.

And how is big brother doing? Pretty darn well. He came to meet "baby sister" about 3 hours after she was born. He immediately wanted to hold her, wondered why she was crying, and then was off jumping on the chairs in the room and crawling through Daddy's legs. Not a bad start I say. And since we've been home, he has been loving holding her, giving her kisses and Eskimo kisses, and loves to help buckle and unbuckle her from her carseat. Such a helper he is. Fingers crossed this continues.